Evans Outdoor Adventures

After a long, sad summer, we’re back on the road, hoping that new places and adventures heal our broken hearts.

Goodbye to Our Sweet Indy

Immediately after returning home from our 2022-2023 snowbird travels, Indy had a mass removed from his lip. Biopsy results confirmed it was adenocarcinoma, a cancerous growth relatively common in cats. Two months later, I felt a lump in his throat and our vet confirmed it was likely the cancer spread. At 16.5 years old, we didn’t want to put Indy through the stress of additional surgeries or treatment. Our goal immediately became quality of life with whatever time we had left.

We made a couple more overnight trips with Indy over the summer. We had a new topper for the truck (more on that in future posts) and we wanted a few last travel memories with our fluffy adventure kitty. Aside from those trips, we suspended all travel so that Indy could spend his last days in the comfort of his home with as little stress as possible. A relatively new medication, a monthly monoclonal antibody injection, allowed us to keep him pain free and comfortable, even as the mass in his throat grew larger. He spent the spring and summer watching birdies, chasing sun beams, and sweet talking me into as many food treats as he wanted.

Every pet loss is hard, but saying goodbye to Indy was even harder than expected. Indy was the sweetest, funniest, and most special little copilot we could have asked for. He will be forever in our hearts and we still miss him every day.

Travel and time in nature have always been my way of coping. After saying goodbye to Indy, our big house was painfully empty and quiet. We could only sit around feeling sorry for ourselves for so long. We packed up the RV and hit the road, hoping that nature would, once again, work her restorative powers.

Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site

We left home with only a rough idea of where we were headed. It had been 8 months since we had traveled extensively and we wanted our first stop to be some place relatively close to home where we could decompress for a few days. At just half a day’s drive from home, Clyde Holliday State Recreation Site near John Day, Oregon was the perfect choice. We spent a few days there last fall and knew it would be a peaceful first stop.

Clyde Holliday features a year-round picnic area and a small seasonal campground. 31 reservable sites are available for camping from March 1 – November 30. Sites have 30 and 50 amp electric and water hookups. Hot showers, flush toilets, and an RV dump station are available. Situated between the John Day River and US 395, there is some road noise, but the sites have a surprisingly secluded and peaceful feeling thanks to lush trees, vegetation, and large lawn area between sites. Rates are $26 per night for Oregon residents and $33 per night for non-residents.

This year, we were fortunate enough to enjoy picture perfect weather and the start of fall colors. Much of our stay was spent kicked back in our camp chairs in our large and private feeling ‘backyard’. A covey of about 30 quail spent afternoons and evenings foraging just yards away from us. We also enjoyed a hike to Slide Lake in the nearby Strawberry Mountain Wilderness. We saw zero people on the trail that day and enjoyed watching a mountain goat scale the cliffs above Slide Lake.

Time to Put Some Miles Behind Us

After three nights at Clyde Holliday, it was time to make some miles. We spent the next three days making our way across Southern Oregon and Nevada. We made our usual single night stop at New Frontier RV Park in Winnemucca, Nevada followed by a return visit to Ward Mountain Campground near Ely, Nevada. We spent a few nights at Ward back in September 2019 and enjoyed its peaceful mountain setting. It would have been nice to spend a few nights there, but we were racing to get a good boondocking spot ahead of the big 2023 Ring of Fire Eclipse. We would be camped in the path of totality and we knew there would be lots of competition for sites. And so we were just one night at Ward before continuing to our first big destination.

The Adventure Continues

Join us for our next post as we begin our fall 2023 adventures in earnest at Bryce Canyon National Park. And don’t forget to check out our Amazon RV and Adventure Gear recommendations. We only post products that we use and that meet the Evans Outdoor Adventures seal of approval. By accessing Amazon through our links and making any purchase (even things as simple as toothpaste!), you get Amazon’s every day low pricing and they share a little with us. This helps us maintain this website and is much appreciated!